The Women in Legal & Corporate Leadership Summit: San Francisco

Heather wears many hats as Associate General Counsel of Unison, a fast-growing company innovating in the residential real estate finance space. In addition to driving Unison's regulatory strategy, she supports the marketing, growth, and strategy teams in everything from product development to developing marketing creative.  Heather also founded and chairs Vingolf,  Unison's employee resource group that focuses on career development for women at Unison through policy building, substantive training, and culture building. In 2018 she took a six month sabbatical to ride a motorcycle around the world with her husband.  

Candice Petty joined Tesla, Inc. as Senior Employment Counsel in November 2018, bringing 15 years of experience as both in-house and outside counsel. At Tesla, she provides advice and counsel on every aspect of labor and employment law, and manages employment litigation ranging from single plaintiff charges to class action litigation. 

Prior to Tesla, she was the Director of Litigation for 24 Hour Fitness, a national fitness chain based in the SF Bay Area, where she managed and led strategy on all litigation against the company and supervised all aspects of case management. Candice has extensive experience advising on complex wage and hour issues arising from both exempt and non-exempt workforces, as well as navigating discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaints at the state and national level.

In her spare time, Candice volunteers as the Executive Director of the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, a national nonprofit organization focused on criminal justice reform. Candice received her law degree from Stanford Law School in 2004, and her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 2001.

Laura J. Maechtlen is the National Chair of the Labor and Employment Department at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Team.  Her practice is focused on employment litigation and includes the defense of class, collective and multi-plaintiff actions.  Laura also has experience litigating against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) in systemic actions, both at the early charge stage and in large-scale EEOC pattern-and-practice litigation.  In addition to her litigation practice, Laura also provides day-to-day counseling and advice to clients about the various laws affecting the employment relationship.  

Laura is a national leader on issues related to diversity and inclusion in the legal industry, and has held a variety of leadership positions through which she has advocated for systemic improvement in the legal industry in the areas of diversity and inclusion.  She currently serves as the Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors for the California Minority Counsel Program, as well as the Executive Committee for Lambda Legal.  She is a previous Latina Commissioner for the Hispanic National Bar Association, President of the National LGBT Bar Association, and Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD).

Laura speaks and publishes regularly on a variety of employment law and litigation topics, and issues regarding diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, and has been quoted on those topics by the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Reuters, The Recorder, Vogue, The Daily Journal, the Insurance Journal, CIO.com, Employment Law 360, and others.  She has also served as a contributing editor to multiple editions of The Fair Labor Standards Act (ABA) and The Developing Labor Law (BNA). 

Kimberly is a member of Oracle’s Corporate, Securities & Acquisition Group, and her practice focuses primarily on corporate governance and supporting Oracle’s Board of Directors. Kimberly is also a member of Oracle’s Disclosure Committee and 8-K Subcommittee, and is responsible for Oracle’s compliance with U.S. securities laws, including the review and preparation of the company’s periodic reports (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K), annual proxy statement, Section 16 filings and earnings releases. Kimberly oversees new executive officer training for all EVPs and above and is responsible for recommending changes to Oracle’s insider trading policy, stock ownership guidelines, 10b5-1 plan guidelines and other internal corporate policies. Kimberly also supports Oracle’s Treasury and Finance teams in capital markets transactions.

Kimberly received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Ripon College in 1994 and a Juris Doctorate degree with high honors from The George Washington University Law School in 1998. Prior to joining Oracle, Kimberly was Director, Associate General Counsel of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and Corporate Counsel of Franklin Templeton Investments.  Kimberly previously worked as an Associate at law firms Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (London and San Francisco), and Sullivan & Cromwell (London).

Kimberly is also on the Board of Directors of Oracle Corporation Japan, a publicly traded company in Japan, and Oracle Financial Services Software Limited, a publicly traded company in India. She also serves as a Trustee, is the Chair of the Infrastructure Committee, and serves as a member of the Audit Committee and Finance Committee, of the Board of Trustees of Ripon College.

Doug Riegelhuth is Vice President and Associate General Counsel at TriNet, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).  He has been a member of the TriNet Legal team since 2011, and was previously a partner at a law firm.  Not including his 3 years at UCLA Law School, Doug has over 25 years of legal experience, the vast majority of it in employment law.At TriNet, he leads attorneys and others who drive compliance and best practices across a wide range of areas in the business. In addition, he is also transitioning back into a leadership role in the claims/litigation area of the business, where he focused his energy during his first few years at TriNet.  Doug is active in the PEO industry, having been a member of the industry association’s Legal Advisory Council for years, and he enjoys speaking at conferences, like this one.

Minh Hoang Merchant, Associate General Counsel, joined Myriad (NASDAQ: MYGN), a molecular diagnostics healthcare company, in July 2018. She serves as Head of Litigation, Employment, and Head of Legal for Myriad AutoImmune, Inc.  Prior to her current role, Ms. Merchant served as Associate General Counsel at Counsyl, Inc., since September 2016 and was Chief Counsel at McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 5 company and the largest pharmaceutical distributor in the nation. Ms. Merchant has been practicing law for two decades, graduating from UCLA School of Law in 1998, and has spent the entirety of her in-house career in life sciences. 

Malte serves as global head overseeing the safety of late-stage development and marketed medicines for Genentech, a member of the Roche group. Over the last 17 years he has held a broad range of positions at Roche and Genentech including medical affairs, pipeline strategy and clinical development. While mostly he was US based, he did lead the China based Roche development team as Site Head in Shanghai from 2016 - 2018.

Before his time with Roche and Genentech, Malte worked for more than 10 years as an internist and HIV specialist in Berlin and Chicago in direct patients care.

In addition Malte is passionate about diversity & inclusion, empowering teams and exploring new ways of working. 

Meena Polich has worked in tech since 1997 and has practiced law since 2004. Her legal and business experience spans product and commercial counseling on hardware, software, and most recently, SaaS, across inbound and outbound direct and channel relationships, ranging from local to global and Fortune 100 companies as well as advising on go-to-market, compliance, and operations.

Meena has always been committed to cultural diversity, inclusion, and education through various opportunities, including ERG involvement at Cisco, service on GitHub's Inclusion Advisory Council and as a founding member of the Adacats, GitHub's ERG champions of and for people of marginalized gender identities in tech, and finally co-founding Intercom's Inter-AZNs ERG.

Meena holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from UC Davis and a JD, specializing in international law, from Santa Clara University. 

Sylvia is the Chief Investment Officer at Ellevest, a technology-enabled investment platform redefining investing for women. In this role, she is responsible for developing the investment strategies, portfolios, and proprietary algorithms that drive Ellevest’s investment recommendations.

Prior to joining Ellevest, Sylvia was a founding member of the investments team at Financial Engines, L.L.C. one of the first successful digital advisors. She worked to develop scalable, robust investment processes to manage over $14B in AUM for over 200,000+ client accounts during her tenure.

In 2010, Sylvia co-founded the boutique RIA firm SimplySmart Asset Management, serving individual investors with fully customized global investment solutions. Her financial services experience also includes portfolio management positions at Charles Schwab Investment Management, where she was director of equity quantitative research, and at the Boston Company, where she managed over $500 million in institutional fixed-income assets.

Sylvia serves on the Board of Trustees at Grinnell College, where she serves on the Finance Committee and the investment Committee that oversees the College’s $2B endowment.

Sylvia earned a B.S. in applied mathematics and computer science from Brown University and a Ph.D. in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. Her doctoral dissertation on investor behavior and social interaction was one of the first in the field of behavioral finance.

Su-Jin Lee is Vice President and General Counsel of POPSUGAR Inc., a global media and technology company headquartered in San Francisco, where she is responsible for all legal affairs of the company. POPSUGAR businesses include lifestyle media publisher POPSUGAR, quarterly subscription box POPSUGAR Must Have, makeup line Beauty by POPSUGAR and the POPSUGAR Collection at Kohl's. She previously served as the Associate General Counsel for Flurry, Inc., an analytics and advertising service for mobile app publishers and advertisers (acquired by Yahoo!) and legal counsel at Mattel, Inc. Su-Jin has advised private and public technology companies and venture capital firms in the US and EU since she began her career as a corporate/securities attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati in Palo Alto.  She earned a B.A. and M.A in Sociology from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Su-Jin serves on the Board of the Center for Youth Development through Law and the advisory board of the Hastings Center for Business Law. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. 

Christine Yun Sauer is a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP who focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation and patent office trials. She represents plaintiffs and defendants ranging from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies across a vast range of technologies in District Court, the PTAB, and the ITC. 

Ms. Yun Sauer’s favorite part of her job is combining her love for economics with fascinating ideas and the people who create them. Ms. Yun Sauer specializes in evaluating patent portfolios for their market impact and applying econometric techniques and thought in order to isolate the technology’s fair value in litigation. Ms. Yun Sauer further uses this experience to counsel clients on the development, protection, licensing, acquisition, and divestment of patents and core technology.

Ms. Yun Sauer chairs the Racial, Ethnic, & Diversity Working Group at Robins Kaplan LLP. She is also a member of the firm’s LEAD Committee, which is a collaboration between the firm’s leadership and working group leaders who together are tackling diversity issues with creative solutions. She is a member of the firm’s Associate Advancement Committee and formerly served on the Hiring Committee. She was the recipient of Robins Kaplan LLP’s Mentoring Award in 2019 and was the firm’s Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow in 2018-2019. Ms. Yun Sauer is also the former chair of the Hennepin County Bar Association (HCBA) 1L Minority Clerkship Program—the program through which she received her 1L summer associate position at Robins Kaplan LLP and for which she is forever grateful. She received the HCBA’s Diversity Award for her work there.

Sara Quinto-Seibert is Senior Regulatory Counsel at Affirm, Inc.  She works cross-functionally with various business teams by providing legal advice on U.S. and Canadian consumer protection regulations for the development of new, innovative and honest financial products for consumers.  Prior to joining Affirm, Sara was Assistant General Counsel at Solar Mosaic, Inc.  During her time at Mosaic, Sara provided legal and business advice to build out Mosaic’s solar loan and home improvement loan products.  She also assisted in strengthening Mosaic’s operations and servicing functions. 

Before going in house in 2017, Sara was an Associate at Severson & Werson.  While at Severson, Sara represented and provided legal advice to various financial institutions.  In 2016, Sara served as second chair for a jury trial and obtained a full defense verdict for a big financial institution. 

Sara received her J.D. from U.C. Hastings College of the Law and B.A. from U.C. Berkeley.  Sara is also a San Francisco native.

Diane Gabl Kratz is a two-time IAM Strategy 300 World's Leading IP Strategist for her accomplishments maximizing IP value. A USPTO-registered patent attorney, she is regular faculty at the Practicing Law Institute (PLI), teaching and publishing articles on incentivizing invention. She is also an IAPP Certified Information Privacy Professional for both Europe and the United States (CIPP/E, CIPP/US).

Previously, Diane developed patent portfolios at a Fortune 500 tech company, advising on strategy, prosecution, and IP-related transactions. Most notably, she launched a company-wide inventor recognition program that increased invention disclosures by 100%. She also headed the global trademark portfolio, leading strategy and administering worldwide registration, licensing, and enforcement. 

A four-time Super Lawyers Rising Star, Diane began her career in private practice at the Silicon Valley offices of esteemed international law firms Morrison & Foerster and Sidley Austin. There, she focused on IP litigation in industries such as semiconductors, software, telecom, consumer electronics, and medical devices.  

Diane is a nationally-recognized speaker and frequently presents at conferences throughout the United States. She has been featured as a guest lecturer at Stanford University’s Management Science & Engineering Department and the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. A proven IP leader, she shares her expertise with organizations such as the American Bar Association, Silicon Valley Association of General Counsel, IAM, California Lawyer/Daily Journal, Unified Patents, and IP Counsel Café. 

Diane earned her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and her Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Cornell University."

Neela is a seasoned attorney with over twenty years’ experience in regulatory law, corporate transactions, autonomous vehicles, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.  Currently, she is with Waymo, formerly the Google self-driving car project. At Waymo, Neela oversees a team of attorneys responsible for product counseling and providing regulatory advice on the newly developing industries of autonomous vehicles, autonomous trucking, and transportation as a service.

Prior to joining Waymo, Neela served in various roles of increasing responsibility at top healthcare companies, including Blue Shield of California, CVS Caremark, and Genentech, and Proteus Digital Healrh. She was also in private practice with Gardner, Carton & Douglas (now Drinker Biddle) in Washington, DC.  

Neela has a Bachelor of Arts in International Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, and a Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC.

Neela currently lives in the Bay Area, with her husband, two kids, and an energetic dog.  

Amanda Morgan resolves complex litigation and commercial disputes for DLA Piper clients, focusing on business competition and the protection of business assets.

Amanda has experience representing and advising clients in commercial litigation, arbitration and pre-litigation disputes, involving unfair competition, protection of intellectual property and other business assets, class actions, financial services, contracts, real estate, fraud and fraudulent conveyance, business torts and corporate governance and partnership disputes.

Amanda has represented clients as plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts, and in arbitration, including banks and financial services firms, insurance carriers and brokers, private equity fund portfolio companies, public and private corporations in technology, telecommunications and fashion industries, technology start-ups and emerging companies, partnerships and limited liability companies and individuals.

Amanda has extensive experience representing clients in corporate raiding and employee mobility cases, as well as in business competition disputes between competitors following the sale or acquisition of a business.

Neha Sareen is the Deputy General Counsel at PetersenDean Roofing & Solar. Prior to working in this role, Neha worked as a Complex Litigation Attorney at Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara. Neha acquired her Law Degree from Golden Gate University, School of Law.

Rebecca Snavely Saelao is a Member in Severson & Werson’s San Francisco office, representing financial institutions, primarily national banks, mortgage and auto lenders, and loan servicers. Ms. Saelao has extensive experience defending suits brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Her experience includes defending class actions alleging statutory violations, unfair business practices, breach of contract, and fraud. She has successfully negotiated class action settlements, navigated the class settlement approval process, and resolved multiple putative class actions on an individual basis.  Ms. Saelao received her J.D. cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2002.

Michelle Ontiveros Gross is a partner in Mayer Brown's Technology Transactions and Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practices in Northern California. Her practice includes advising clients on a wide range of technology-related matters, including data, digital services, outsourcing, licensing and M&A transition services and support. She also advises clients on data privacy and security matters, including with respect to cybersecurity, technology and data initiatives, development of privacy and data security policies, and product development.

Michelle has significant experience with intellectual property strategy and commercialization; copyright, patent and trademark matters; and integration of business units and product lines in connection with mergers and acquisitions. She frequently advises clients on large-scale, complex business process and information technology outsourcing transactions across a broad range of business processes, such as finance and accounting, information technology, application development and maintenance, human resources, claims processing, logistics, co-location, and facilities management. 

Alex Toy is Senior Corporate Counsel in the Healthcare Law Group at Genentech, Inc., A Member of the Roche Group.  Genentech is a biotechnology company dedicated to pursuing groundbreaking science to discover and develop medicines for people with serious and life-threatening diseases.  His practice focuses on FDA regulations and healthcare fraud and abuse laws in advising a diverse group of functional partners, including Marketing, Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Product Labeling, Pricing and Contracting, and Manufacturing/Quality.  Alex has supported medicines in the therapeutic areas of hemophilia, oncology, stroke, growth hormone, and organ transplant.

Prior to joining Genentech, Alex clerked at the FDA Office of Policy and was an associate in the Life Sciences group of Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC.  Before turning to law, he completed research internships in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics at Pfizer and Amgen in South San Francisco, and was a surgical devices patent examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

Alex graduated from Brown University with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and received his law degree from American University, Washington College of Law.

A Bay Area native, Alex lives in the East Bay and enjoys hiking and traveling, but he and his wife have had their hands full lately with their 4 year old son and 1 year old daughter.   

Leader of enterprise-wide Big Data strategy and governance; experienced in Healthcare Information Technology (Health IT); complex technology transactions, Big Data strategy, and IP attorney for one of the largest health care non-profits ($79 billion operating revenues); over 18 years experience in structuring and negotiating high dollar technology transactions, cloud services, AI, strategic innovation collaborations, licensing, professional and managed services, web-based, and outsourcing transactions. Negotiated upwards of one billion dollar IT deals, including domestic and international transactions. Advised on customer and supplier side of technology agreements for both in and out-bound transactions. Counseled clients ranging from Fortune 100, and early stage companies in IT, healthcare, software, web-based, e-commerce, automotive, manufacturing, insurance, energy, and banking and financial industries. Lead a Data Strategy Team of 12 attorneys and paralegals. Co-chair of the Enrichment and Development Subcommittee of the Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Marla Sofer is the VP of Strategic Partnerships at Jemstep, a B2B2C digital advice platform focused on helping Americans invest to achieve their financial goals. Before diving into Fintech in 2015, Marla led institutional partnerships at BlackRock and J.P. Morgan quantified in billions of dollars. She has been a champion of gender diversity, founded two employee women’s networks, and served as a non-profit leader dedicated to social justice. 

Anne M. Cappella is a partner in Weil’s Silicon Valley office, where she focuses on patent counseling and litigation involving complex and cutting-edge technologies.

Ms. Cappella has a uniquely diverse intellectual property counseling practice, which includes advising clients on pre-litigation patent strategies, technical aspects of patent licensing arrangements, patent acquisitions, and intellectual property due diligence for M&A transactions.

Clients also call on Ms. Cappella to oversee and lead the most technical aspects of patent litigations, including performing technical analysis to ensure solid claim construction, infringement, and validity arguments; overseeing technical experts and interacting with company engineers; and managing post-grant strategy and proceedings. Ms. Cappella has extensive experience representing clients in high-stakes multi-patent and multi-district litigations, as well as trade secret actions. She litigates in federal courts and arbitration proceedings, and has particularly deep experience before the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Ms. Cappella uses her strong technical background, including a B.S. in electrical engineering with minors in computer science and mathematics and prior work experience as an engineer and consultant for IBM, to advise clients on a diverse range of technology. She has represented smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers in proceedings involving data encoding, memory, multi-touch, WiFi, GPS, data synchronization, 3G/LTE cellular data modulation, and digital camera technologies. She also has represented other technology-focused clients in proceedings involving wireless, integrated circuit design, memory, Ethernet and DSL technology, and semiconductor processing and packaging. Some of Ms. Cappella’s representative clients include leading smartphone manufacturers, Microsoft, Intel, Amkor, and T-Mobile, among others.

Ms. Cappella is widely regarded as a leader in the field. In 2014 and 2017, Ms. Cappella was named to the Daily Journal’s list of the Top Women Lawyers in California. The publication, which recognizes the 100 most accomplished women lawyers in the state, noted that “Cappella uses her background as an electrical engineer and a love for complicated technology to help her clients fend off patent infringement claims.” Since 2016 Ms. Cappella has been recognized as a recommended lawyer for patent litigation by Legal 500. She also has been included in The Recorder’s list of the top Women Leaders in Law and was named a “2016 Women of Influence” by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Ms. Cappella is actively involved in a number of initiatives aimed at bettering the careers of women lawyers. She is a member of the Firm’s global Women@Weil leadership board, a Firm affinity group that focuses on supporting women lawyers. Ms. Cappella also is a formal mentor to several senior women associates, and a regular participant in women law student and engineer mentoring programs.

Sinead Kelly is a partner in the Firm's Compensation practice. She advises on US executive compensation and global equity and has practiced in the compensation field for over 13 years. She regularly publishes articles and blogs on compensation-related topics, including in the Corporate Taxation Journal and Law 360, and is a contributing author to Lexis Practice Advisor and a founder of the Firm’s Compensation Connection blog. She is also a frequent speaker and commentator on executive compensation and global equity topics, in venues including the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, the Society for Corporate Governance, the Certified Equity Professional Symposium, the Global Equity Organization, and Agenda magazine. She has been recognized by Legal 500 as a leading lawyer for Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits.

McGuireWoods partner Carolee Hoover represents financial institutions in single plaintiff, class action, and multidistrict consumer finance litigation nationwide in matters relating to automobile and mortgage loans, deposit accounts, and related servicing. She defends alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, RICO, the Bank Holding Company Act, and state UDAP statutes. Additionally, Carolee handles complex commercial litigation and antitrust price-fixing matters as well.

Jasmine founded The Dincert Movement in 2017, hosting at-home concerts + dinners to raise money for local nonprofits lacking institutional giving channels. The initiative has raised tens of thousands of dollars for non-profits that provide direct services and aims to decentralize philanthropy while engaging the Oakland community through music and food. Jasmine also serves on the Boards of Public Advocates and California ChangeLawyers and was formerly on the boards of the South Asian Bar Association and the Young Women Social Entrepreneurs. In the wee morning hours, Jasmine teaches indoor cycling at Ride Oakland and Bhangra Barre at Remedy Barre.

Jasmine earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with high distinction from the University of Michigan in 2004 and graduated Order of the Coif from UCLA School of Law in 2008. She was selected by the SF Business Times as one of 2019's Most Influential Women in Business. 

Tyng Loh is an Assistant General Counsel at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, where she has advised on legal and regulatory matters across the biotechnology product portfolio and across the lifecycle, including international clinical research, manufacturing, quality, trade compliance and sanctions, cybersecurity, as well as US commercial sales and marketing,  Prior to joining Genentech, Tyng practiced in private international law firms in Washington D.C. and Tokyo, where she focused on healthcare regulatory and litigation matters and corporate and securities issues in the life sciences space.  She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, cum laude, and received her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University. 

A North Carolina native and avid music lover, Jasmine is a passionate attorney with a strong background in music business and the law.  After passing the bar, Jasmine worked as a solo attorney and focused on counseling artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and investors in bringing traditional media to digital platforms.  She has since pivoted into negotiating commercial agreements for technology companies.  She is now Commercial Counsel at Asana, Inc. the leading work management SaaS provider.

Jasmine is a graduate of the UC Hastings College of the Law and holds a degree in Music Business from New York University.

As a highly experienced labor relations and employment law attorney, Heather Sager counsels clients through a myriad of labor issues from class actions, to unfair competition litigation, to wrongful termination, harassment and discrimination. Her extensive knowledge of California’s complicated statutory and regulatory requirements for employers from startups to the Fortune 500 is well regarded by technology, retail and finance clients.

During her career, Heather has focused on management-side representation in single-plaintiff, multi-plaintiff and collective and class action litigation before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. She has also handled union organizing campaigns and negotiated collective bargaining agreements demonstrating her skills in traditional labor law. Her experience litigating complex wage and hour claims and conducting wage and hour audits make her a top choice among clients grappling nationally with FLSA and on the West Coast with the California Labor Code and California Equal Pay Act.

Heather regularly advises clients on employee classification and independent contractor issues and helps defend against unfair competition and trade secret misappropriation. She also is active in #MeToo counseling and training for employers, regularly conducting investigations into allegations of sexual harassment.

Maggie specializes in the representation of emerging growth companies throughout their lifecycles. Maggie is broadly experienced with corporate formation and governance matters, venture capital financing transactions, and a variety of M&A transaction structures.

Maggie represents a wide variety of technology companies from consumer internet, software, telecommunications, and entertainment technology industries, as well as a number of leading venture capital firms.

Lisa K. Blatt is a seasoned general counsel and business attorney, who has advised global public companies and start-ups.  She currently is general counsel at Blurb, a software platform for creatives to design, print and sell (self-publish) books and related products.  Among other positions, Blatt has served as the Deputy General Counsel of Sinclair Broadcast Group and General Counsel (Acting) of its Ventures and its Software and Design subsidiaries, where she initiated and led its first internet deals, the interim Manager of Legal Services for Entrepreneurs at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights where she advised diverse and low-income start-ups and as General Counsel for Skyline Ventures/Minnesota Street Project and an associate at Bryan Cave.  In her free time, she enjoys friends and family, snowboarding, swimming and shooting photography and video in extreme environments. She has worked with an international science team from NASA in Chile and the National Science Foundation in Antarctica where she survived a Condition One storm trapped in her tent for six nights.

Melissa Blach is a Director in the San Francisco office of KPMG’s U.S. Forensic practice where she serves in the firm’s Investigations, Disputes & Compliance group. Melissa provides privileged consulting and expert witness services to clients and their counsel and has dealt with a broad range of commercial disputes including those resulting from class action litigation, qui tam actions, breach of contract, employment disputes, bankruptcy litigation, and financial statement misstatements. Her experience covers a variety of subject matters, with an emphasis on economic damages and the use of complex data analysis in a litigation context. Melissa has also participated in a wide variety of investigations including those involving the application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and allegations of fraud and misconduct. She has served clients across many industries, including insurance, healthcare, utilities and energy, manufacturing, financial services, construction/development and retail.

Melissa has served as a People Management Leader since joining KPMG in 2010. She has been a mentor to numerous individuals over the course of her career and has been nominated for KPMG’s National Mentoring Award. She is also a member of KPMG’s Network of Women (KNOW).

Melissa received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UC Berkeley.

Tamara's legal experience is anchored in labor and employment advice, counseling and litigation for employers.  She started her career at a mid-sized defense firm in San Francisco.  At Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. she spent 15 years in the Labor & Employment Practice Group, advising managers and HR on both day to day performance oversight as well as big picture policy and strategy issues, and managing employment litigation.  Since 2017, Tamara’s practice has focused on managing employment litigation. Tamara is a seasoned litigator and tough negotiator, known and respected for her pragmatic, collaborative, results-oriented style and strong writing skills.

A significant portion of Tamara’s work at Kaiser is devoted to the Legal Department’s Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Program.  As the Department’s Strategic Leader for Equity Inclusion and Diversity, since 2011 Tamara has developed and led the Department EI&D Committee, working tirelessly to promote the Program mission, "to strategically drive the integration of equity, inclusion and diversity into every aspect of our work resulting in a positive and enduring impact on our workforce/department, the legal profession and the communities we serve."  The positive, measurable, undeniable and enduring impact of this work on her colleagues, the community and the pipeline of future diverse lawyers drives Tamara's passion for this aspect of her career.

Tamara is a Bay Area native and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford Law School.  Tamara’s passion for equity spills over into her non-work life.  She serves on the board of a local non-profit that provides respite and support services to children and families.  Tamara, along with her adult daughters, host a variety of events for youth and women of color, including empowerment seminars and distribution of essential toiletries and accessories to homeless women.

Alese Torres leads a dynamic legal team at Indiegogo, a tech company in the Bay Area. She handles privacy, compliance, general product counseling matters, and large scale commercial deals, and focuses on building a solid foundation of Legal operations for both the team and the company. A not so-recent transplant to the Bay Area, she received her B.A. in Geography from Dartmouth College and her J.D. from the University of San Francisco, School of Law.

As a startup executive, I believe that a diversity of experiences and talents, combined with the shared desire to create something extraordinary, naturally garners success. Through co-founding a law firm and a women’s leadership non-profit, and creating and producing two podcasts, I’ve worn many hats. My entrepreneurial adventures permitted me to also dive into operations, finance, sales, and marketing. I leverage this unique cross-functionality to build and inspire teams to manifest important change, unified behind a vision. I thrive in early-stage, fast-paced, technology-focused environments where teamwork is critical to success and look for opportunities to build on or create "team joy" as a core cultural value. I also produce the podcast Unraveling Pink, to tackle gender bias through conversation, most recently exploring the impact of the “man box” on gender equality.